Two Winnipeg friends had hoped to recreate fond memories of childhood backcountry camping in Nopiming Provincial Park with their two sons during a trip earlier this week.
But as Eric Gauthier and Pascal Breton were fishing at their campsite on Garner Lake near the Ontario border, a lightning strike near Bird River — about 60 kilometres southwest of where the group set up camp — sparked a fast-spreading wildfire that was detected on Monday.
“We’re camping, we’re fishing, we’re on a beautiful beach in a very scenic, absolutely stunning place,” Gauthier said.
“We caught a lot of fish,” said his seven-year-old son Caleb Henley.
On Tuesday, Gauthier said the group had a cooler full of walleye and were grilling steaks on the barbecue when they noticed a helicopter flying overhead, nearing the beach on the peninsula where they were stationed.
They didn’t know it yet, but an evacuation order was issued for Nopiming park on Tuesday, forcing residents, cottagers and campers to flee the area.
When he first saw the helicopter, Breton said he had worried officials might have thought they were cooking over an open fire, which the province bans annually between April and November, with some exceptions.
But days earlier, the group took off in two boats from a friend’s cabin on Beresford Lake to Garner Lake, which is outside of cell service. That friend knew the group’s itinerary and watched for fire updates from the province from their home in Winnipeg.
When the friend received the evacuation notice for Beresford Lake, they called conservation authorities to let them know where Breton and Gauthier were camping with their boys.
“When the chopper landed, Conservation came out and said, ‘We’ve got to get you guys out of here, there’s a fire really close,'” Breton said.
As wildfire spread in and around a Manitoba provincial park, a camping trip became a rescue mission
The group of four were among the 13 people rescued on Tuesday by Manitoba wildfire and conservation officials, a provincial spokesperson told CBC News.
“When we got into the helicopter, I was not even thinking that the camping trip was already done … I didn’t know it was a fire, but it was a fire,” said Breton’s six-year-old son Remi Gautron-Breton, who told CBC News the sun looked red as they flew up into the sky.
“It was just a wall of fire from the time they picked us up all the way back to Lac du Bonnet,” Breton said.
Gauthier first visited Nopiming park as a young teenager and said it was devastating to see one of his favourite places burning from above.
“It’s the devastation of losing that park. That place has a special place in my heart,” Gauthier said.
“I wasn’t thinking about our situation, our safety. I was just thinking this is gone now. This is our playground. This is where we come. This is our special place. It was devastating,” he said.
Breton said he was eight years old when his father and uncle took him on his first backcountry camping trip in the park. It’s a fond memory he said has been etched in his mind ever since, keeping him coming back for 36 years.
Now Breton fears the wildfire may reduce the place he spent so many summers into “a charred bunch of trees and rock for years to come.”
Fire completely destroyed their friend’s Beresford Lake cabin, Gauthier said.
“All that’s left of the cottage — from the picture that we’ve received — all you can see is the wood stove in the middle. Everything else is pulverized,” Gauthier said, adding he and Breton each lost a truck parked outside the cabin.
On Saturday, the Nopiming wildfire was still considered out of control and has grown to more than 100,000 hectares in size, according to the province’s most recent fire status report.
Bird River Fire Chief Mac Kinghorn said in a video posted to Facebook on Saturday that wildland firefighters will be working on suppressing the fire on Sunday.
Officials were previously focused on saving structures from damage while poor weather conditions made it unsafe to fight the fire head on.
“Right now the rain that we got over the last 24 hours has made a big difference for us. The ground is nice and wet, and hopefully that will get things going,” Kinghorn said.
However, he said it’s still unclear when evacuees will be able to return home.
Gauthier said it’s important to “always tell somebody where you’re going to be” when backcountry camping, crediting their friend for helping them get home safe.
Breton said he’s “eternally grateful” to their friend, their rescuers and to the “courageous” firefighters working to put out the wildfire.
“Everybody that was involved in helping people get out of the fires with that rescue effort is amazing,” Breton said.
